THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 2024
Spare anglers from new fishing rules
It is learnt that the Goa Marine Fishing Regulation (Seventh Amendment) Rules, 2023 under which all nature of fishing, including fishing with line-and-hook for sport is covered, now entails registration of equipment with a payment of a fee. Non-compliance can lead to penal action including confiscation of equipment as well as the catch. It is learnt that the same rule also applies to individual fishers using cast nets (pagear) and fishing with traps (koblim) to catch fish, prawns, lobsters and crab.
There are numerous fishing enthusiasts in the state who spend a lot of time in angling as a leisure activity. However now picking up the fishing rod or line and heading to the river bank, sea or even the local sluice-gate to spend a few hours angling could land one in conflict with the law if the angling equipment is not registered with the state's fisheries department and a license is secured to practice the hobby.
This has obviously upset many Goans who are fishing enthusiasts. Fishing also gives one the pleasure of self-fulfilment. When one goes out fishing, one respects the outdoor environment, learns skills and one learns to be patient. Above all one sets a goal and tries to achieve that goal. All these activities give a sense of fulfilment. Fishing is considered as one of the best hobbies. It would be desirable for the government to spare fishing enthusiasts from the new rule.
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco
When one advocate blemished us all
The theft by an Advocate of Court property including gold and currency has taken our legal profession to a very new low. It is perhaps for the first time in Goa’s history that an officer of the Court has dared to stoop so low knowing fully well the serious consequences of his insane act.
Such important and vital muddemal property pertaining to criminal cases which was part of documentary Court evidence needed to be safely stored in a strong locker and couldn’t have been just left in a cupboard which could be opened with a screwdriver by someone who did not require even elementary knowledge of a blacksmith. To be able to have committed such a heinous act in the first place is worrying indeed.
It may now require the services of a retired Judge to suggest steps to be taken to ensure that our Temples of Justice and such court property in Courts across Goa is kept safe and secure from even a professional criminal let alone an Advocate who has taken our profession to the cleaners. It is vital that security must be stepped up to protect our institutions, the people that always work and use them and the property within them.
This awful criminal offence committed by an advocate whose profession is supposed to be noble is a very serious and condemnable act. It is surprising that our Advocate associations have chosen to be silent on an act that needed to be vociferously condemned. The Advocate fraternity should have in one voice spoken loud and clearly against this very serious crime by an Advocate which has tarnished the fair name of the entire legal fraternity. An ugly scar that will remain for a long time to come, a wound that may never heal and will haunt us all in the legal profession. The silence of our fraternity on this serious issue is in bad taste and inexplicable.
As officers of the Court, have we proved to be spineless and speechless at a critical time? When the rule of law is so blatantly abused in our state where the crime rate is soaring, it is vital that Government and law officers do everything possible to ensure that people’s faith in our political and judicial system is not eroded even further.
Aires Rodrigues, Ribandar
Measures to save jumbos
It's heartening that the safety and security of wild animals, especially the endangered ones, are receiving a lot of attention, and the courts are seized of the matter. The Supreme Court, the other day, wanted to know the status of the 2010 " Gajah report" and whether or not the Centre is keen on setting up the National Elephant Conservation Authority (NECA) and provide the body a statutory status. In turn, there was an affirmative nod by the Centre. It said the count of elephants in India was on the rise. In 1992, " Project elephant" was launched in India and the Jumbos were accorded the national heritage status in 2010. However, between 2014 and 2019 as many as 23,000 elephants lost their lives.
In Odisha alone, there were 61 elephant deaths in 2020--21, and between 2009-10 and 2018--19, 730 jumbos lost their lives. Steps have to be initiated to keep the big animals safe in their homes: accident, electrocution and poaching have killed plenty of elephants in the country. Jumbos held captive in zoos and other places require particular attention. Securing the elephants in a non--exploitative and sustainable environment is key to their overall well being. More and more elephant corridors and enhanced budgetary provisions for ensuring elephants are in the safe confines of their homes is paramount.
Ganapathi Bhat, Akola
Budget 2023
All budgetary spendings depend on the anticipated revenue receipts in the concerned financial year. A cursory glance at the Union budget presented by Finance Minister Sitharaman makes one believe that the revenue receipt assumptions made by the creators of this budget seem to be too optimistic studded with not so easily realisable projections which would eventually result in further gaps and end up in higher fiscal deficit. The finance minister has depended on tax buoyancy to determine the fiscal deficit to remain at 5.9% of the GDP based on her expectation that the revenue expenditures such as interest payment, subsidies and salaries could be contained to remain at the 1.02% level, which is not feasible under the circumstances. One really wonders whether the BJP government that has been crying hoarse ever since it came to power in 2014 that they are made to service the high-cost funds borrowed by the former UPA government has already cleared the said loans or still carrying them in their books and in that case, have given sufficient cushion to cover the outlay in their projections. This is just an example. Though the government has introduced rupee trading, particularly for purchase of crude oil and with an eye on saving our forex reserve, it would be a Herculean task to stall the fall of rupee the emerging Asia's worst performer in 2022 and is likely to extend losses and lose its lustre further this fiscal year.
The higher allocation of funds for infrastructure development and railways are welcome but it is not going to generate employment opportunities to the millions immediately as these are all long- term projects. With nothing concrete given to the agriculture sector except the much- propagated millets- promotion and reduced funds allocation for health and education, it is an absolute mockery that some overzealous supporters of the BJP government have started calling it a 'visionary' budget.
Further we should not forget that the Adani Damocles sword is also hanging precariously over the head of the government as its leaders have hastened to term the exposure of the alleged malpractices, frauds and malfeasance of the Adani group by Hindenburg Research an attack and affront on the sovereignty of India! This is because the steep fall of the Adani group is definitely going to affect the economy of the country and in turn have a serious impact on India’s credibility as a market. As the budget projections have been made much before the fall of the Adani empire, the repercussions over the fall of this group will reverberate and make the numbers arrived at in the budget go topsy-turvy, shooting the fiscal deficit to go northward.
Tharcius S Fernando, Chennai
